Rhyme and Reason
by ShivaVixen
Summary: Based off my two oneshots . . . Slight AU. Based off the Feral Scream episodes. I don't own Beast Wars, you can't sue me! On Hiatus due to writer's block, will be picked up in 09 maybe. Sorry for the incovenince
1. A Shot in the Dark

**Disclaimer: Do not own Beast Wars . . . ****wouldn't**** mind having a few of the characters, though. **

**Shot in the Dark**

Cheetor kept running, quiet and focused on just running. The energy he had as a transmetal II was more than he normally would of had . . . so was the power. He could feel it, and he knew what his limits were. What bothered him was the thoughts that would creep into his mind, the most recent coming during an argument with Rattrap, he'd wanted to pounce and shred his friend to bits, just so his claws could tear metal and fur . . . hitting a rock, he took out the violent urge by ripping into it, leaving claw marks. He started growling and roaring, though he didn't realize it. 

Depth Charge watched him from a distance, watching him reduce a boulder to a bunch of pebbles._He's upset about something._ Depth Charge started to head in the opposite direction, ignoring Cheetor. It wasn't his concern. Besides, he didn't want to get shredded. 

Rattrap, reluctantly, was on patrol and muttering to himself. Rattrap came up over a hill, and saw his friend ripping a boulder to bits. "Ah!" Cheetor stopped he heard Rattrap's gasp of surprise. He glanced at him. 

"Rrrrrr." Cheetor blinked, then glanced at the rock. " . . ." He turned and started to walk away. 

"Cheetor, what's wrong?" Cheetor glanced over his shoulder. Then at the former rock. 

"Nothin'." He took off again. 

"Nothin', my aft." Rattrap looked at the new gravel. "I'd hate to see him angry, for real." 

Cheetor ran straight into Depth Charge. (He'd wound up running in the same direction as Depth Charge had gone.)

"Oomph!" The two went down a hill, and landed in a heap.

"All this open space, yet you run into me . . ." Depth Charge tried to get up, Cheetor looking apologetic, transformed and helped him up. 

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention . . ." 

"So I guessed. Got done making gravel out of that boulder?" 

"Er . . ." Cheetor flinched. 

"Are you still having nightmares?" 

"Yeah . . . They aren't as bad though, not as frequent." Cheetor glanced away. 

"All right . . ." Depth Charge blinked, the tracking system for Rampage came up. Two fairly close together- "Rampage and Dinobot are close by. Want to go hunting with me?" Cheetor just transformed for an answer. As Depth Charge followed the signals, Cheetor moved quietly next to him in beast form. He liked hunting in that form, Depth Charge noted.

"They're close . . ." A shot hit Cheetor making Depth Charge turn. Dinobot grinned at them.

"They're here. CHEETOR MAXIMIZE!" Cheetor lunged at Dinobot. The two started to fight. Depth Charge ducked back from laser fire, and started firing at Rampage. "**ROWRR!**" Cheetor and Dinobot went to beast mode. They kept alternating between the two in a fight.

"Go to the Pit, Rampage!" Rampage and Depth Charge exchanged blows and blasts, Rampage eventually sending him flying into an immovable boulder. Depth Charge felt all his system warnings flash. One of his legs had been hit hard. 

"Depth Charge! Look out!" Depth Charge could only blink in surprise as Dinobot, probably trying to mess with Cheetor, fired at him, and Cheetor, in beast mode, got in the way. "**ROWRR!**" Cheetor went in to stasis lock. 

"Cheetor!" Depth Charge grabbed his comrade, the blast had hit and penetrated his spark chamber but- "Primus . . ." The spark was still there, he was alive! "Hang on . . ."

"Impossible, Megatron must kn-" Dinobot didn't get very far. Rampage grabbed him and hit several wires that would overload his short term memory circuits, effectively erasing the memory of what he'd seen, and knocking him out. 

" . . ." Depth Charge looked at his enemy. His gun was too far away, and Cheetor was injured. 

"Next Time, Depth Charge." Rampage took Dinobot with him, the other waking up. Depth Charge held onto Cheetor and took to the sky. He had to get back to base, quick, or Cheetor could die. 

**First chapter, I know it's short, but . . . what can I say? I'll update again, I promise, in the mean time, I'd recommend reading Rhyme to Rage and Reason to Fight, this is the story based off those two one shots, so it would be helpful to you to read the other two. (I had to re-edit them due to spelling mistakes, should be better now.) My other story is on hold due to the fact I'm actually writing two versions and can't decide which way to go. **


	2. Good news and Bad news

**Disclaimer: Don't own Beast Wars, or any characters . . . I wouldn't mind having Cheetor or Tigertron though . . . or Waspinator, for that matter.**

**Good news and Bad news **

"What happened?" Optimus met them. "Is Cheetor all right?"

"I don't know . . . He should be dead . . ." Depth Charge had been checking Cheetor every so often, but his park signature hadn't faded in any strength, and the kid was still alive.

"What?!" Rattrap looked up from whatever it was he was eating. No one asked what it was. "What's wrong with Spots?"

"He was shot to the spark by Dinobot . . . but he isn't dead." He moved so Rattrap could see the hole in Cheetor's side. Rattrap's optics bugged out and he fell backwards.

"Let's get him to Rhinox."

"Get who to me?" Rhinox's optics widened in shock. "Slag, get him inside quick! When was he shot?"

"Half a mega-cycle ago." Depth Charge laid him on a table. "I think, my internal clock stopped the last time I got trashed by Rampage." Due to the fact that people who got shot to the spark never actually survived, the CR chamber couldn't repair the damage, and while the TM2's could heal themselves, patching up the spark chamber was still something that had to be done by someone else.

"What? He should've died by now." Rhinox gently began cleaning up the area.

"Who should've died?" BlackArachnia stuck her head in, and noticed the TM2 cat on the table. "What's wrong with our Tabby?"

"He's not dead, for one." Depth Charge watched Rhinox work on the cat.

"Do you want him dead?"

"No." Optimus' worry about the cat made him lose some of his selfcontrol.

"He's got nine lives, so it's probably why he's alive." BlackArachnia turned. She didn't exactly care.

"Wouldn't a shot to the spark knock out all nine?" Rattrap had recovered enough to get to the patch-up room.

"Huh?" BlackArachnia blinked. Then looked at the unconcious cat, now seeing the place where Rhinox was working. "Who shot him?"

"Who received a shot to the spark?" Silverbolt entered the corridor highly confused.

"Everyone out!" Rhinox, who was focusing mainly on Cheetor, had had enough of the noise. Optimus couldn't remember a time he'd seen his old friend looked so ticked. "Now! You too, Depth Charge, I'll let you know how he is in a bit, now _Out_!" Silverbolt gallantly pulled BlackArachnia out of the way as the other three mechs were forcibly shoved out the door. The door slammed behind them.

"Whew, Rhinox don't mess around." Rattrap got up and quickly moved away from Optimus and Depth Charge.

"Depth Charge, would you mind explaining exactly what happened to the two of you?"

"I was tracking Rampage and Dinobot, Cheetor joined me, he enjoys the hunt, we fought them, Dinobot tried to blast me, but Cheetor got in the way. He went still, and I thought he was dead, but . . . he wasn't. Dinobot said he was going to report it to Megatron, and Rampage stopped him . . . that was it." Depth Charge shrugged. "I don't know how he survived . . ."

"We'll wait for Rhinox to tell us what he finds, till then, let's wait somewhere other than the corridor."

* * *

"Are you cheating again Rattrap?!" BlackArachnia was annoyed at how often Rattrap was winning. The poker game had been in session for awhile as they had to teach Silverbolt the rules.

"Milady, I doubt Rattrap would stoop so low as to cheat on a simple game." Silverbolt tried to calm her down. He'd lost every game so far as he didn't have a very good poker face, actually he didn't have one at all. (His tail also wagged everytime he had a good hand.)

"Heh heh, lissen to Rin Tin Tin, He's right." Rattrap glanced at Optimus. "Your deal."

"Depth Charge, are you sure you don't want to join us?" Optimus shuffled the cards and glanced at the loner maximal.

"Yes." Depth Charge was cleaning his gun. While he looked far off and aloof, the raybot was saying every prayer he knew. Cheetor had grown on him, and he didn't want him to die. The sound of the lift made everyone glance at it, Rhinox took a step off.

"Well?" Optimus folded, looking at Rhinox.

" . . . We might have a problem . . ." Rhinox looked like he wasn't sure what to say.

"What sort of problem?" Silverbolt looked up from where he was trying to figure out what three kings and two Aces would mean.

"Is Cheetor all right?" Rattrap folded, looking up at Rhinox.

"Yes to the second, as to the first, I ran some scans on Cheetor's spark . . ." He typed something into the main computer, and a white line, (think similar to the green lines on the hospital monitors, but shinier.) was frozen. "Now normally, every spark's signature has about a 5 percent match with all the other sparks, a base uniform code, and Siblings can have up to a 50 percent match, especially if the spark has split, Airazor's spark had about a 20 percent match to Cheetor's on that note, due to my using his circuitry to save her spark, well," He typed up and three more lines appeared below the first, slightly different. "As you know, I check up on everyone and do a regulation scan of all systems every so often. Well, this one is Cheetor's spark before becoming a TM2, this one is just after, when I did a check on him. It's changed a little, but that could've been due to stress . . ., but this one's the kicker, and the most recent, His signature has change quite a bit, and, well, it has become a 30 percent match to one other mech."

"Who?" Depth Charge watched as the bottom most line moved to cover the topmost line, the most recent. The sections that were similar were boxed in red.

"Rampage." Rhinox glanced at the group. The pictures of Cheetor and Rampage flashed on the screen. "Some how, Cheetor's spark has become immortal . . ." Several aces fell out of Rattrap's hand. Everyone was staring at the screen. "I found the remains of the blast inside the spark casing . . . and there was a part of the casing sticking in his spark. That piece should have killed him instantly."

"What effects will that have on Cheetor?" Optimus snapped out of it.

"Other than the fact he now has an immortal spark? I don't know. I doubt Rampage or Dinobot can communicate with him, and vice versa, That's generally when the match is 40 percent or more, but the full extent of the change is unknown." Rhinox shrugged. "I can't find out anything more, yet, the files I need got a bit scrambled in the crash, it'll take awhile to unscramble them."

"Poor Spots . . . If Mega-jerk finds out, he's in trouble." Optimus glanced at Rattrap, and gave a slight nod, considering that fact.

"Rampage knows something about this, I'll bet." Depth Charge glared at the screen. "He stopped Dinobot from reporting to Megatron, he knows the kid's spark is immortal."

"How would Rampage know?" BlackArachnia glanced at the usually loner Maximal. "The guy only thinks of a few things, fighting and getting the other half of his spark back are probably the top two."

"He's smarter than you think. I know, I've been hunting this guy for a long time." Depth Charge looked away from the screen. "And as for the change in Cheetor's spark, it looks like it started just after he became a TM2, right?"

"Theoretically, yes." Rhinox nodded.

"There's a several megacycle gap between him attacking Megatron, and then him showing up at the base, Correct?"

"Right, Where are you going with this, Depth Charge?"

"There's a time gap between the attack and him collapsing in front of the base, he also had changed back to being in his robot form instead of the beast mode." Depth Charge glanced at everyone, they were staring at him. "We have to find out what happened. Were the scanners online by then?"

"Some yes, but they couldn't give off an alert-"

"The alarm system was fried, we got that fixed after Tabby got back." Black Arachnia finished Rhinox's statement. "But we could probably pull up the files . . . " Rhinox started typing into the computer.

"Should've done this before." He muttered under his breath. "Here. Now searching the scans done right before Cheetor came back.-" They saw a dot stop, and then turn around, leaving another dot. "Enhancing . . ." The dots turned into Rampage and Cheetor, The former carrying the latter, and then Rampage put Cheetor down. He left pretty quick, right out of the range of the scanner. A while latter, Cheetor woke up, confused and getting his bearings, then began to move toward the base. Rhinox rewound to the point Rampage had just set Cheetor down.

"Looks like you were right, comrade." Silverbolt looked at Depth Charge.

"Unfortunately." Depth Charge wanted to go and rip Rampage to pieces. _If he actually did something to Cheetor, I will-_ "Cheetor's memoires of that night are all confused, still. Is there anyway to- I don't know, fix them?"

"Nope. Had he gone into a CR chamber after coming back, we might have been able to salvage a few. But either way, it would be invading the kid's privacy, which I refuse to do."

" . . ." Depth Charge absently tapped his gun, thinking.

"Here's something to think about, comrades, should we tell Cheetor?" Silverbolt saw them all jerk. The thought had just occurred to all of them. BlackArachnia scowled as she saw the cards he set down on the table. Two tens a six and a seven and a Jack were all she had.

"We can't, Spots might get even more reckless." Rattrap tried to move so the aces were hidden.

"But we can't hide this from him forever." Silverbolt argued back. "His spark has changed, how long will it take for him to realize that?"

"Probably never, unless he gets shot in the spark again. Once is a miracle, twice would get him confused. We can't expect him to take the news either seriously or not."

"Stop protecting the kitty cat. He's more than able to defend himself, you've seen him fight." BlackArachnia crossed her arms, glaring at Rhinox. "Or are you scared he'll turn into a pred?" That started an argument with Rattrap and Rhinox against telling Cheetor, while BlackArachnia and Silverbolt were for. Optimus glanced at Depth Charge, the ray bot's expression unreadable.

"What do you think?"

"Cheetor should know. The kid'll take whatever you throw at him- he's not going to break, yet. I'm more worried about what Rampage did to him." Depth Charge put away his gun. "And I doubt Rampage will tell us anything."

"If Megatron finds out, Cheetor's Spark and freedom will be in jeopardy-" Rhinox was arguing with Black Arachnia.

"He won't find out. How often does anyone get shot to the spark in a battle over a pod?" She snapped back.

"Curiosity killed the cat, Silverbolt! Cheetor might try something-" Rattrap forgot about the cards as he argued.

"Rampage could influence him, he has to be aware of what's happened to his spark!" Silverbolt gave a low growl.

"I don't think Rampage is an issue." Optimus was thoughtful as he spoke to Depth Charge. "He stopped Dinobot from telling Megatron, so while he is an enemy, He may be our best bet at keeping Cheetor safe."

"Great." Depth Charge headed toward the lift. "I suppose I have to hold back on hunting that slaggin' glitch as well."

"Until we know what's going on, yes. Where are you going?"

"To check on the kid . . . I won't say anything to him unless you want me to."

"I'd prefer it if Rhinox told him." Depth Charge gave a slight nod and then left. Optimus turned back to the arguing quartet. A headache forming. _Cheetor . . . _

Silverbolt, BlackArachnia and Depth Charge hadn't been there the first day of the Beast Wars, Optimus, Rhinox and Rattrap had. The three had watched Cheetor slowly mature, had been amused by the cat's innocence and willingness to learn and to please, Even Dinobot had developed a soft spot for the cat, especially since Cheetor had generally been able to see the good in the former Pred, even when everyone else mistrusted him. The three had seen some action before, but Cheetor was a rookie, pretty much right out of the academy. They had wanted him to stay as innocent as possible, not see how thin the lines were drawn. So, Optius realized, The idea that Rampage, the one bot the three had subdued and knew his rather violent history, had done something to Cheetor scared them, though that wasn't something they'd admit. Cheetor was still a kid to them, and they wanted to protect him.

**Well, second Chapter's up. Eventually I'll get the plot going, on that note, Does everyone understand what I was trying to say? I've had trouble with explaining things before. Review and let me know! **


	3. News breaker

**I'm fixed chapter 2, for some reason the percent sign didn't show. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own Beast Wars. **

**News breaker**

Cheetor felt like he was floating in air, suspended. It was dark, wherever he was. _Depth Charge!_ What had hit him? He couldn't remember. Then he was on a lab table, the same dream that had been haunting him for a long time. He thought he heard words, and then he saw something sharp come at him, pain- "No!" He woke up on a metal table, and panicked. Claws ripped metal as he struggled to get up. Someone grabbed him. And he started to struggle harder.

"Take it easy, Cheetor!" _Depth Charge?_ The cat bot calmed down. He blinked at the blue bot.

"How'd I get here?"

"You got shot and knocked into stasis lock. You didn't heal up right away, so I got you back here." Depth Charge stood back as Cheetor transformed into robot mode.

"Dinobot shot at you and I got in the way." Cheetor leaned on the table a bit. "Are you okay?"

"Fine-"

"Spots, you okay?" Rattrap sped in, and then hid behind Cheetor.

"I'm fine, phew, did you eat limburger cheese again?" Cheetor struggled not to gag.

"Eh, it tastes good. Look, if Legs comes, don't tell her I'm here, all right?"

"Why?"

"She caught me cheating at poker."

"Get back here rodent!"

"And I'm supposed to protect you why?" Cheetor looked down at his friend.

"I thought I said for no one to bother Cheetor while he's recovering!" Rhinox arrived and pretty much kicked out Rattrap, literally.

"Rhi-nox!" Rattrap had to take off. "Wheels don't fail me now!"

"Cheetor, I have to talk to you, alone." Depth Charge reluctantly left. "Cheetor, you-" The door closed. Depth Charge leaned on the wall, silent. Optimus stood out there as well. (Silverbolt was hunting Rattrap with BlackArachnia, because he was upset that Rattrap had lied to a lady, though he also had orders to make sure she didn't kill Rattrap.)

"I hope this goes well . . ."

"What!" Cheetor's voice made them jerk. Both bots looked at each other, hoping that nothing too bad would happen. It was quiet for a few more klicks, then the voices inside became raised. (Depth Charge cracked the door open a bit, Optimus didn't bother scolding him, he was curious too.)

"Cheetor you need to be careful-"

"I know, you've said that twice already." Cheetor had a headache, he needed to have some energon, or recharge. He wasn't sure which. "I'll run in a further section from the preds, but there's no way I'm just going to stay at the base all the time."

"Just as long as you understand-"

"That if Megatron finds out, I'm slag? I got that part." Cheetor gave a low growl, then looked apologetic. "Sorry Rhinox, but . . . I was finally getting adjusted to being a TM2, now I have an immortal spark, is there anything else that can happen to me that's going to insure I'd have a hard time adjusting to being whatever normal was on cybertron?"

"Let's hope not. What's wrong?"

"What do the others think, about the whole mess with my spark?"

"Currently, I don't think they care, I'm just worried 'cause you might have a sibling bond with Rampage, and I can't remember at how similar the sparks had to be for the siblings to communicate. Not that you are siblings, but there's a possibility for a connection to grow."

"Great . . . just what I wanted to hear." Sarcasm. "This day can either get worse or better . . . I shouldn't have gotten out of recharge."

"That might've been worse, but be cautious if you go hunting with Depth Charge again, Rampage may try something, . . ."

"'And be careful'?" Cheetor looked partially annoyed.

"Yeah, and get energon on your way out, your tank is almost empty, Cheetor."

"So I noticed." Cheetor didn't even glance at the two bots outside as he headed toward the galley.

"That went well . . ." Optimus looked at Rhinox.

"Better than I hoped." Rhinox admitted, "I need to fix the table though."

"I'm going to find Rattrap and the other 2 . . . I hope he's still in one piece." Optimus left.

" . . ." Depth Charge followed Cheetor, his tank was almost on empty too. The kitchen had gotten re-arranged so he just opted to look through the cabinets to find the energon.

"Don't open that cabinet, use the one next to it." Cheetor gave a half smile. "That's where Rattrap keeps that cheese collection of his." Ironically, the next one had Rattrap in beast form.

"What are you doing in there, rodent?"

"Rodent yourself, and I'm hidin'." Rattrap closed the door.

"Try the one over there-" Thankfully, that was where the energon was.

"Want to go hunting again?"

"Yes, but Optimus might have a problem, or even Rhinox." Cheetor finished his. BlackArachnia entered the room and found Rattrap. Sliverbolt was just behind her and both tried to get the rat bot out. Cheetor and Depth Charge watched as Rattrap fought back, then disappeared down an escape hole he'd made. BlackArachnia following.

"Heelllppp mmmmeeee!" Silverbolt just closed the door and looked at the two others in the room.

"I apologize for our disturbing you. I'd better get a CR chamber ready for Rattrap." He left.

" . . ." The two bots left glanced at each other, Depth Charge noted that Cheetor glanced away first.

"Let's hope there isn't an emergency then. Though Waspinator goes down pretty quick in a fight." It had taken about a week for Depth Charge to get to the point where he could have a conversation with Cheetor that didn't involve him too much in the young cat's life, or Cheetor in his. They pretty much only talked about hunting Rampage and TM2 Dinobot, and the beast wars.

"Still leaves us outnumbered, Rhinox stays with the base more often than not." Cheetor responded, he glanced down at the energon he had. "Though Rampage generally doesn't go after the stasis pods unless Megatron is that desperate to get it. And you generally don't come unless Rampage is there." Depth Charge blinked, he really should get scanned. He actually felt guilty from how the kid was talking.

"I said I wasn't going to be apart of the war, Cheetor. Killing X is my goal."

"What'll you do if you accomplish it then?"

" . . . What are you going to do when the Beast Wars end?" Depth Charge just turned the question back at Cheetor.

"I don't know anymore." Cheetor sighed. "I don't want to wind up a weapon, or an experiment. Slipping into the background might be fine."

"What makes you think you'll be a science project?"

"I have an immortal spark, and a TM2 body." Cheetor glanced at the blade on his right elbow. " . . . Depth Charge, do you know where Rhinox is?"

"Fixing the table you used as a scratching post. Did you have a nightmare?"

"Same one, though this time I heard people talking." Cheetor finished his energon. "I can't hear it very well, but I know they're talking." _And I get the feeling that this nightmare isn't really mine. I can either have Rhinox do a scan, or talk to Rampage- no, I'm never going to do that._ Cheetor tossed the container away. _I'm not going to Rampage for anything._ "See you later."

"Yeah." _I meet Rampage, I'm beating him to a fragging pulp and extracting what he did to the kid. __Those__ nightmares started after the kid became a TM2. Rampage is behind them, I don't know how, but he is._

_

* * *

_

Slag, that was too close, the cat's spark was almost discovered.

Rampage watched Waspinator get blasted for the who knows anymore time, he didn't have a good report. _I've got to keep track of him, That cat can't get discovered, yet. _Inferno was babbling to Megatron about something. _But how am I going to do it without Megatron or that 'brother' of mine figuring it out? _

"What do you mean you don't remember?" Megatron growled at Dinobot.

"I shot at the ray, the cat got infront of him, I think the shot hit, then I was being pulled out by Rampage." Rampage held back from scrambling his 'brother's' thoughts even more.

"Rampage, tell us what happened." Rampage shifted his frame, annoyed.

"The ray fired back with his gun, and it caused a power surge." Rampage gave a half grin, "The cat won't be running for a bit, though." _I hope, I need time to think this out._

"I see, and the reason you didn't press the attack and wipe them both out?"

"It wasn't going to be as much fun." _Partially true._ "Cat was almost offline, wouldn't have lasted long enough." _Complete lie_.

"I see, yes . . . " Megatron tapped the side of the hot tub, thinking.

A**ll right****, chap. 3. Next chapter starts back with the maximals, And I have no actual set plans for what's going to happen, I scrapped my original outline. (looks sheepish) Sorry, I keep forgetting about all my stories that have to be updated. Does anyone else want to give Waspinator a hug? I always feel like the poor guy never gets an even break- well, he does at the end of Beast Wars, but then he comes back in Beast Machines . . . Review!**


	4. Shaken, not Stirred

**Shaken, not Stirred**

"I don't want to know anymore, just get this room fixed up." Optimus had a headache, At least Blackarachnia hadn't killed Rattrap. He picked up rattrap and carried him to the surrveliance room, the rat was wrapped in webs, and he'd gotten shot with very light doses of venom. Minor damage, though.

"Stupid legs . . . stupid dog . . ." Optimus ignored the sulking rat. He was busy untangling the webs.

"Maybe next time you won't cheat."

"I have no idea how the aces got there!" Rattrap argued. Depth Charge and Cheetor entered.

"What the-?"

"Rattrap got caught by BlackArachnia."

"I kinda figured . . . She doesn't like losing, does she?" Cheetor loaned a claw to cut the webs. He was pretty careful, o that note.

"What was your first guess?" Rattrap was slighlty nervous as he watched the claws that had earlier reduced a boulder to gravel cut the webs. Depth Charge left. "Where's he going?"

"Out."

"Where?" Optimus tugged at the web.

"Dunno, I didn't ask." Cheetor quickly pulled his hand back, he'd almost cut Rattrap.

"Cheetor, how long have you and Depth Charge been hunting together?" Optimus stopped trying to untangle the webs to look at Cheetor.

"Mm, about a week after I got like this, he asked if I'd like to join him." Cheetor got more of the webs off.

"How often do you actually fight Rampage or Dinobot?"

"Not that often, it's rare for them to be together. Generally if it's Rampage, I stay hidden and wait for the fight to stop, then help Depth Charge back to the CR chamber. Opposite if it's Dinobot we find."

_I think I need my audio receptors checked, it sounded like he said he and Depth Charge were working together. _Optimus' optics dimmed alittle in thought. _I wonder . . . _

"That's the most I can get off without accidentally cutting Rattrap." Cheetor pulled back, "Who had three kings and two aces?"

" . . . That would be where Silverbolt was . . . slag, he won." Rattrap pulled the remainder of the webs off his wheels. "Thanks for the help, Spots."

"No problem, Big bot, can I recharge for a bit?" Cheetor suddenly felt exhausted, even though he had a full tank. He'd seen Rhinox tomorrow, or the day after. Rhinox had been working on the files when he'd stopped by earlier, and had asked if he could work on the scan someother time.

"Go right ahead Cheetor, we'll wake you if we nee your help." Cheetor nodded and headed to his room. "Shock must've caught up to him."

"Silverbolt's turn for patrol, and I better clean up the cards." Rattrap got up, while Optimus went outside. He needed to think.

Depth Charge dove underwater, swimming seemed to relax him for a while. Which also helped him think. _What am I going to do? If Cheetor ever does establish a sibling bond with X, It'll hurt him when I do kill X. _He let some air out from the seals so he could dive deeper. _I've heard stories about siblings who died days after the first one did, others who were left with a what felt like a hole in their sparks . . . I don't want the kid to get hurt . . . _Old memories briefly surfaced, he shoved them back. _If Megatron hadn't shot him and knocked him into the machine . . . he wouldn't have had these problems. _He dodged a school of fish, almost running into a real manta ray. _What do I do? _

Cheetor curled up on his recharge berth. _Why me? Of all the mechs, why did Rampage give me an immortal spark? _He dimmed his optics. _I hope I never develope a sibling bond to Rampage . . . or Dinobot for that matter._ He slipped into recharge, ignoring the claw marks that still had to be cleaned up and repaired.

_Slaggin glitchhead._ Rampage glared at Megatron before leaving the room. _Now, I've got to work on my cat problem . . . If Dinobot finds out, he'll tell Megatron, and then my spark goes out of my reach . . . I've got to influence the cat, some how . . . _The room he had was plain, just a recharge berth and some walls. _I won't be able to turn him to my side completely, I'm not giving Megatron a new pet, so I need the cat to stay a Maximal, that's obvious. I also need him to stay with Depth Charge, as the cat hunts with him . . . a good safety buffer. Basically I have to change him without changing him completely. _

_

* * *

_

"No- spa- lose-" The voices were clearer, then the pain came through-

Cheetor jerked to a sitting position. His room, his stuff, he was fine. "just a nightmare . . ." He got up. He wasn't going back to sleep though. He went to the monitor area, and had to do a double take. "Is it night already?"

"Yep, we couldn't even wake ya, you were pretty deep in recharge." Rattrap lloked at this friend. "You feeling okay?"

"Fine, now. Anything important I missed?"

"Nah, well, other than I'm not getting near Legs with a ten kilometer long pole, nothin'." Rattrap glanced at Cheetor. "So, uh, why were you destroying a boulder earlier?"

"Needed to let out energy. The time spent during that storm yesterday night couped up here didn't help." Cheetor glanced at the monitors.

"Well, if you can't go back to recharge, wanna play a card game?" _He destroyed a boulder, 'cause he needed to let out energy?! That can't be the real deal . . ._

"Sure, as long as you don't cheat."

"Funny, Spots, real funny." Rattrap dealt out the cards, giving an almost imperceptible shudder when one of Cheetor's claws came close to touching his hand while grabbing a card. Cheetor noticed.

"Are you scared of me?"

"Eh, beast mode intincts, inner rat yells at me to take cover, heck, that happens when I'm near BlackArachnia and Silverbolt too." Rattrap attempted to brush it off. "Prey instincts, according to Rhinox. I wasn't able to stay near you that long that one time we were stuck in beast mode, remember?"

"Yeah . . ." _Who else is scared of me? _

_That didn't work very well, I meant for him to laugh . . ._ "Remember Choppaface? I had trouble initially being around him, too. Though he was fun to tease. Remember when we couldn't see?"

"Yeah, I think I heard him crash into several trees, Rhinox was the most comfortable during that whole ordeal."

"Yeah, well, I didn't admit at the time, but anytime you or Chopperface got close and I could smell ya, the instincts to run tried to take over."

"That why you liked getting stepped on by Rhinox?"

"Don't remind me, Spots, that was the most painful experience of the day." Getting stepped on by Rhinox had hurt, and then Dinobot had tripped and landed on him, Cheetor had tried to help them out and wound up scratching Dinobot. It took almost a megacycle to get some sembalnce of orientation. It had been a long, long day. "Your bid."

* * *

"Cheetor, you're on Patrol. Don't stray to far, and don't go hunting with Depth Charge till you're done."

"Alright, Optimus. See you in a bit!" Cheetor had heard the orders, but all he cared about was the fact he was allowed out of the ship. he'd been worried that they were going to confine him to the ship for life or something. (A bit of an exaggeration, he knew, but hey, he was entilted to it.)In about half a nanosecond, he was in beast mode and running. He almost knocked BlackArachnia over as he sped past.

Silverbolt glanced up at the blur that had passed his vision, slightly curious.

"Hey, Optimus, you sure that's a good idea?" Rattrap's voice made him look at Optimus as well.

"He'll be fine Rattrap," Optimus turned to go and talk to Rhinox. "Megatron doesn't know yet, odds are he'll be safer if we keep on as normal and don't hide Cheetor from view."

"I still don't like it, too many chances for Megatron to find out."

"There's not much we can do right now Rattrap. Rhinox will need some time de-scrambling the files. And keeping Cheetor in the base will not be beneficial for any of us." Optimus left. Rattrap just shook his head and disapeared to places unknown. (Unknown because no one wanted to ask where he was going, and they were pretty sure they wouldn't like his answer if he did tell them)

Depth Charge saw the slight dust trail that generally signaled Cheetor. He couldn't help but think that out of all of the maximals Cheetor was the one most comfortable in his beast mode. Rattrap was debatable and he'd never actually seen Rhinox anywhere other than the base. Depth Charge immediately brushed the thoughts away. Though he was already losing the battle to keep his distance from the group. Partially due to his habit of keeping an eye on the kid. He wasn't even sure when exactly that started to be a habit for him. _Maybe I should get my core processor scanned._

"Cheetor to base, everything's clear here." Cheetor had hopped onto a large boulder, glancing around. "No sign of any form of Pred activity." _Though considering the fact that they never do anything in the way of predictability, that's not surpriseing. _

"Alright, you'd better start to head back, then, we've got a storm coming pretty quick."

"And Spots, burn up some energy before you come back."

"Okay-" Cheetor felt the wind start to pick up. Then started to run at a easy pace, avoiding going to fast to soon. It was more work to run slow.

_Problem with tropical planets, there's at least a storm once a week or more._ Depth Charge didn't mind the rain, but he did mind the lightning, so as the sky darkened he began to head back to base. Thunder rolling in the background.

"Cheetor, let's work on the scan now. I can't decode anymore files at this point." Optimus glanced up at Rhinox's entrance.

"Scan?" Rattrap was hiding in his room, and no one knew where BlackArachnia and Silverbolt were, exactly. Depth Charge was somewhere around the base. Cheetor had stayed with Optimus, though neither had been speaking. "Scan for what?"

" . . . Big bot . . . errr . . . lately I've been having nightmares . . ." Cheetor looked highly uncomfortable. "They started the night after I finally became a full TM2 . . . I just wrote them off . . . but . . . They're pretty much the same thing, recently I could hear people talking. I thought it would be a good idea to get scanned . . . " Cheetor shifted a bit.

"May I come?"

"Up to Cheetor."

"Works for me." Cheetor spoke a bit too quickly. He was uneasy throughout the whole process of getting hooked up.

"Alright cheetor, hold still." Cheetor offlined his optics. If he couldn't see what RHinox was doing, he'd be okay.He hated scans. Accent on hate. It had taken him two megacycles to get enough courage to do it before he joined the Axalon in the first place. WHy? He just had a phobia of doctors. His youngling doctor hadn't been the best.

" . . ." Depth Charge glanced in the door.

"Well, so far, nothing unusual, from what your first scan had." Rhinox focused on the screen. Depth Charge relaxed a hair. Then Rhinox muttered something under his breath. Depth Charge tensed again. In his experience, any time a technician muttered, it was generally not anything good.

"Rhinox?"

"Hang on, we've got something . . . a subconcious chip with data in it."

"?" Optimus looked at Rhinox.

"Subconcious chips don't normally have actual data, Optimus. They just have partial picture files, and are just sort of blank chips for if the memory files overload, not enough to count as files. This one has full blown data." Rhinox glanced at Cheetor, who partiall onlined one optic. "Cheetor, I'm going to try and upload the data in the chip, this might hurt."

"Are you okay?" Optimus glanced at Cheetor.

"I hate scans." It was taking all his energy not to bolt out of the room. CR chambers he was fine with, actually having wires connected not so much.

"Yeah, the fact you rescheduled twice proves that." Rhinox muttered. That had been annoying. Though it wasn't as annoying as trying to scan Rattrap. The rodent had given every single reason he could think off not to get scanned, and then some. He had almost knocked his friend unconcious just to finish the scan. "Upload . . ."

Cheetor gave a slight growl as he felt a slight shock.

"Slaggit!" Rhinox's curse didn't help matters at all. He cut off the upload. "It's encoded. I can't upload with out a password." He unhooked Cheetor. "I copied the firewall into the computer, so I'll be able to at least figure out the password." Outside, Depth Charge crossed his arms, steaming quietly. "But that just confirms that you're viewing someone else's memories . . . Next time you have a nightmare, try fast forwarding the dream . . . might not work, but you could figure out who it is-"

"I'm betting Rampage." Depth Charge leaned on the door frame. "Timing's right."

"Depth Charge-"

"My hunch too." Cheetor looked tired. "Cause the only word I'm making out right now is 'spark' whenever they're talking."

" . . . My advice still stands." Rhinox saved the file. "Though if I can't decode the password, we're going to talk to BlackArachnia and Rattrap."

"Great . . ." _Why don't we tell Silverbolt while we're at it?_

Rampage headed out into the storm. He wasn't bothered by the weather, never had been. He wanted to check on an idea of his.

"Where are you going? Zzz." Waspinator wished he kept his vocal processor silent. He was on the ground, blasted, in about 2.5 seconds.

"None of your concern. NNngh!!" Rampage was on the ground.

"Is it now? Will you tell me?"

" . . ." Did Rampage mention how much he hated Megatron and Dinobot? "Idea. To elminate the Raybot." He glared at both of them as he got back up.

"Tell me, then."

"No. He's mine to kill." Rampage growled.

"Quite right, how long will it take?"

"Don't know yet. Couple days, more." _And this better work. The cat needs to be off balance enough. _

"Dinobot will be checking on you."

"Fine." _Anything at this point, I need to work quick . . . _

**Well, there ends the actuall chapter . . . the rest is just my orginal attempt, and you don't have to read it. See you next chapter, which might be in june, at this rate. Please review.****OMAKE**

* * *

**(Or Random insert that for some reason popped into my head while I was trying to write the chapter but I didn't have the heart to delete . . .)****Warning, oocness and a drunk/high waspinator with a gun, some suspense. ****About 50 percent crack, must be taken with a grain of salt and a margarita. ****(Don't ask) ****Also, some of what Rhinox says will show up in the story in another chapter, so I'm giving away plotholes. (This had started out serious, on that note.)**

**Please enjoy.**

Depth Charge met Optimus opon his arrival. Well, 'met' wouldn't be the right word. More like knocked into.

"Depth Charge, Have you seen Cheetor?"

"Yeah, a while ago. He was ahead of me heading to base-"

"He's not back yet, and we can't raise him."

"He might be in that deadzone, Optimus, it's on the way from where he was." Do to some reason, probably a magnetic hotspot, the commlinks never worked in a small rocky area. Rhinox's attempts to figure out why never worked, the machinaery quit on him everytime he tried. "I wouldn't panic just yet."

" . . ." _And when would be a good time to panic?_ Depth Charge glanced at Rhinox, not that willing to ask his next question. "Did you unscramble the files?"

"Some, I only got part of how a sibling bond could form, which was basically one mech's spark in a moment of distress will be more apt to form a sibling bond with some one- That's why some comrades can be so close and understanding. It's generally whoever comforts them the best, supposedly. The mech that wrote this is drier than a desert. I almost fell into recharge when I was reading- Where are you going?" Depth Charge had aboutfaced and started to head away.

" . . ." Depth Charge kept moving, and the rain started. _There's no way X would comfort anyone, so kid's safe in that respect, but I don't want it to happen by mistake. _"!" Optimus had come up besides him.

"I'm going to go looking for Cheetor in the deadzone. There's plenty of loose rock there to cause a good enough rockslide to bury him."

" . . ." _I highly doubt Cheetor would get trapped like that._

Unfortunately, Depth Charge was wrong, and Cheetor was currently cursing himself and a certain wasp for stupidity. Obviously Waspinator had gotten into either the Highgrade stash (or the glucose stash, that Megatron kept forgetting to destroy) on the darkside, well that was fine, but did he have to get trigger happy too? Thankfully Waspinator had gotten crushed as well.

There were certain rules to follow when one was a member of the beast wars, one of them was not to actually worry about Waspinator too much (unless he somehow got a large fusion bazooka) and then (if you were a maximal) pity the stupid bug after he got slagged, again. So Cheetor had initally ignored the wasp that was singing 'Tiki Tiki room' and trying to do the hula in a grass skirt with flowers strung around his neck. Then, Waspinator had gotten into an argument with a rock about harmony, and started firing, trying to hit the rock.

Note the 'try', the rock, as far as Cheetor knew, was still in one piece.

_Well, might as well try to get out of here. _Cheetor began clawing at the rocks around him, trying to figure out which way was up. _I'm going to tear Waspinator limb for limb when I get a chance. _The rocks shifted and he froze. _Not good. _So Cheetor opted to sit tight, and hope Waspinator didn't do anything else stupid.

"It'zzz a zzmall vorld after all, It'zzz a zzmall world after zall . . . " Waspinator was pinned under several rocks and was now singing a new song. "zzomethin, zzomethin, zzmall, zzmall world, everbody!"

_**Boom!**_ Thunder sounded and Depth Charge mentally kicked himself for not keeping a better eye on Cheetor.

"Let's try and find him . . . Cheetor!!" Optimus began testing rocks and calling for the missing maximal.

"Come on, Cheetor, where are you?" Depth Charge began looking as well. "Come on, Cheetor, you need to make some noise."

"Cheetor?!"

Cheetor thought he heard his name, and tried to stand up. "Hey, I'm right here! Ow!" He'd hit his head on the low ceiling. "Mmm . . . **ROWR!!**" He roared.

Depth Charge gave a slight jerk and took a step back. The rock he'd been standing on had just roared. "Cheetor, you okay?" Depth CHarge signaled Optimus (who'd just found Waspinator. the new song was 'take me out to the ballgame') and the two worked to get the stone moved. Depth Charge would've use detonators and exploded it, but not all the rocks were stable enough for an explosion.

"Fine, just remind me not to take shortcuts that have preds near them. Did you see the glitch known as Waspinator?"

"Yes. He's pretty plastered." Optimus held up the rock as Depth Charge helped Cheetor out of the hole.

"Under Zee old oak tree-" Yet another song came from the broken up form of Waspinator.

"Great, now i'm muddy . . ." Cheetor hated water to a certain extent. It didn't help that he couldn't swim. He sank like a, well, metal block.

"Better than being crushed." Optimus let the rock fall.

"True, but it's going to a pain to clean mud out of my gears-"

"Help me Rhonda, help help me Rhonda-" Waspinator's voice was still going.

"Can't you stay out of trouble?"

"Apparently not. THough how was I to know Waspinator was around? Or that he start firing at rocks?"

"Good Point . . . what should we do with him?" Optimus looked at Waspinator.

"I'll take him back to base." Quickstirke arrived. " . . . Glitch, Drank my Stash, Inferno's, Tarantulas's, Several other hidden ones and Megatron's . . . " QuickStirke slung the inebriated waspinator over his shoulder. " . . . This doesn't leave the canyon, please."

"Uh-huh . . ." Moments later, Cheetor glanced up at the stormy sky. "Must be a blue moon or something." They headed back to base.

**For the record, I warned you. Please Review.**


	5. Fade to Grey

**Fade to Grey**

Rampage glanced up at the sky. Hopefully this would work. He transformed back into beast mode, and settled down to wait.

"X is close . . ." Depth Charge flew slowly over the trail that was carved in the cliff. Cheetor was below him, using his beast mode to track scent.

"Last time you said that, we got jumped." Cheetor glanced up at Depth Charge. "Don't think Dinobot's nearby, I can't scent him."

" . . ." Depth Charge landed and transformed. Suddenly part of the cliff exploded, Almost knocking him off. Cheetor crouched low, trying to keep his footing.

"Depth Charge, get into the air!" Cheetor tried to back away from the narrow edge in front of him and get back to sturdier ground, except he didn't make it that far. More explosions ripped through the cliff, the force knocking him into the air, and too far away from the cliff face to grab on. It didn't seem very long before he hit the water.

"Cheetor!!" Depth Charge ignored his sparking wing, a result of rocks and debris hitting it at an explosive force, and let go, diving after the cat. Another explosion sent rocks and boulders flying, he was hit and knocked off course, and buried in rubble. "Nn . . . Depth Charge to Primal! Cheetor and I are in trouble." Pride be hanged, he couldn't get up, and he could hear Cheetor's roar begin to fade. "Damnit . . . " What really didn't help matters was seeing Rampage slip into the water. "Will someone answer! X went after Cheetor!"

Rampage almost wanted to laugh, he couldn't have dreamed of such a perfect result. Now he just had to grab the cat. He'd get Depth Charge some other day. Plunging into the river, he let the current take him, while he focused on where the cat was. If this didn't work out, he'd come up with a new idea.

Cheetor struggled up, panic flaring up and overiding some of his logic circuits. His beast mode didn't help matters at all. _Big bot Depth Charge, Some one! _Water got into his air seals, he panicked even more His spark reaching out to anyone, and something pulsed back. Someone grabbed him, pulling him out of the water, and helping him purge out the water. The panic in his spark was slowly dying down, and being replaced with comfort and reassurance. "Thanks-" Cheetor froze up as he realized who saved him. _Frag!!_

"My pleasure, Cat." Rampage grinned down at him. The warm feeling went cold as Rampage gripped his neck. Cheetor instantly tried to block out Rampage, but it was a bit too late. He tried to claw Rampage, who just shook him. "Now, is that anyway to react to your brother?" Rampage was amused, sending small pulses of emotions to the cat.

"You planned this didn't you?" Cheetor gave up on trying to block out Rampage.

"You were taking too long in defeating Dinobot. This way I can help you, Cat."

"Help me?" Rampage just looked amused at the anger Cheetor was directing at him. This cat was fun. Maybe he would keep him after all. "How is this helping me?"

"I want my spark back, you can get it for me, in exchange, I won't kill Depth Charge." Cheetor gave a low growl, angry as he could get. Rampage sent him a soft pulse, almost warm. Cheetor's logic circuits were going on the fritz. He was angry, but his spark wouldn't hurt Rampage. "It's a simple deal. You stay a maximal, I could care less which side you were on, all you have to do is remove our dear brother's spark and give it to me. That insures your friend's life." Cheetor growled. The idea Rampage was suggesting wasn't a comfortable one. "But you better not tell any of them, Cat-"

"I won't." Rampage's dark thoughts were like ice in his spark. He had a pretty good idea of what the crab would've said. "You have my word."  
"Good. Then I'll make this look realistic." Rampage threw him into a rocky outcropping, and shot him, knocking him into Stasis. Then Rampage took off before the maximals got there.

"Repairs complete." Cheetor woke up as the CR chamber doors opened. _Slag, what am I supposed to say?_

"Hey, Spots, you alright?" Rattrap looked at his friend.

"Kinda . . . " CHeetor made a quick decision. He'd act like he couldn't remember. "What hit me?"

"We were hoping you could tell us." Optimus looked at him.

"Depth charge said Rampage attacked you."

"Yeah, I didn't see him coming . . ." Cheetor looked a bit shaky, so Rhinox reached out to steady him. "Not real sure what happened after that."

" . . ." Depth Charge watched Rhinox double-check Cheetor's spark. It was still the new normal, so he relaxed. A small flicker in his processor was dismissed as it tried to yell at him that he wasn't seeing something.

**Here we are, the next chapter. I found a bunch of them already outlined, so I decided to use them, and hopefully close up the story something this year or the next.**


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